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A funny thing happened on the way to the strategy today. We all forgot to ask, "Why?"

Look, you've been in the meetings. You know how this goes down. Everybody gathers around with the client and the client asks, "How do we go about this?" And everybody struggles to come up with the solution.

"How do we manage Facebook?"

"What kind of ad should we do?"

"Where should we target the creative?"

These are the questions that get asked. Then we go to work to solve the problem. But no one seems to ask, "Why the hell are we doing this in the first place."

Okay, correction. We do ask "why" behind closed doors as we walk aways grumbling that the client doesn't know what they're doing. But so few times do we ask "why" in a meaningful way that affects the resulting programs.

It never ceases to amaze me that we don't stop and really question why we need to do things. Everything from the TV campaign to the banner ad should be examined with rigor these days, and every massive crisis to troubling issue should be subjected to careful scrutiny before we act.

It's not enough to just solve problems in advertising. Any vendors can solve problem. But it takes a partner to step up and confront the truth.

Maybe that's why we're talking to procurement more than the people in charge these days.